Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Brisbane International yesterday, while world No. 1 Angelique Kerber crashed out of the quarter-finals of the singles.
Former doubles world No. 1 Hsieh and Laura Siegemund rallied from a set down to oust fourth seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Matinez Sanchez of Spain 6-7 (7/9), 6-2, 10-2 in 1 hour, 49 minutes.
The Taiwanese-German duo saved three of seven break points and converted six of eight, winning 81 of the 139 points contested to advance to a semi-final against top seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Hsieh’s former partner Sania Mirza of India.
Photo: EPA
In the singles, the tournament lost its top two women’s seeds when Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova were both bundled out in the quarter-finals.
World No. 1 Kerber made 48 unforced errors, including five double faults, as she went down to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Frenchwoman Alize Cornet eliminated Cibulkova 6-3, 7-5.
Kerber said she was not worried about how the early loss would affect the defense of her Australian Open crown.
“I think Grand Slams are always completely different,” Kerber said. “It doesn’t matter how you play before. Of course, it’s always good to have matches, especially at the beginning of the year. I have had two good matches here. I will try to have a few more matches before Melbourne [at the Sydney International next week].”
Svitolina next takes on third seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who came back from losing the first set to Italian Roberta Vinci to win her quarter-final 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
In the first match on Pat Rafter Arena, Cornet was in irresistible form as she blunted everything Cibulkova threw at her to win a tight struggle in 2 hours, 3 minutes.
A more settled and mature Cornet said there was no reason why she could not get back into the world top 20.
“I’ve always had a lack of consistency during my career and maybe the fact that I’m 26, I’m a little bit older now, I have more experience and I feel like maybe I’m touching something during this week of Brisbane,” Cornet said.
She next faces Garbine Muguruza, who edged Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-4.
In the second round of the men’s singles there were victories for top seed Milos Raonic of Canada, fourth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, fifth seed Rafael Nadal of Spain and seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
RSS